A pressing need for the upcoming decades is ensuring that the large population of Older Americans are able to function independently and maintain an acceptable quality of life. Given the increased use of computers and other forms of technology in most settings, one important area of concern is how well older people will be able to adapt to rapid developments in technology. In order to function independently, people of all ages must learn how to assimilate technology into their lives. This represents a challenge for many older people. Available data indicates that older people typically have more difficulty learning and operating technical systems than younger people. Unless we understand how age affects the use of technology, successful use of technical systems will continued to be a challenge for current and future generation of older adults. Given that technology is not static, people must continually confront the need to learn to use new systems. The objective of the proposed multi-component program is to develop a center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE). The focus of the Center will be on conducting research aimed at understanding how age-related changes in function on an older's ability to interact successfully with technical systems. An additional goal of the Center is to ensure that these outcomes are disseminated to designers of technical systems and implemented in a wide variety of settings. Given that the emphasis in technologically-based tasks is on cognitive demands, all of the proposed research projects will investigate how age-related changes in cognitive abilities impact on task performance. Thus the Center will also generate data on large, representative samples of older adults which can be used by the research and design communities and further our understanding of issue relevant to aging and cognition. The Center will consist of a consortium of three universities: the University of Miami, Florida State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. The research program of the Center will involve research projects that focus on different but complementary aspects of human-technology interaction (input device, design, training and interface design). The projects will investigate these issues over a broad range of tasks. The theoretical approach for the research projects is based on a combination of human factors engineering and cognitive psychology perspectives. The outcomes of each of the projects will include design guidelines for a broad range of technologies as well as information regarding aging and cognition. In addition, the projects will generate an extensive database on a large battery of component abilities. The Center will include a student research program to stimulate interest in aging, human factors, and cognition among future scientists. The Center will also include a management core and data management/statistical core. The cores will provide technical and administrative support, and scientific oversight to the research projects. The proposed Center is unique in terms of its emphasis on factors, aging, technology, a multi-disciplinary research team, a comprehensive approach to issues regarding aging and technology, and study populations which include diverse samples of older adults.